Several mornings after the night before and England are back in action, looking to bury the ghosts of Old Trafford’s poor performance. And it happens to be the most difficult match of the Qualifying Group, hardly ideal in the respect of Saturday but perhaps the perfect antidote as another “small” nation may induce the same comatose performance. Team news is hardly ideal, with Gerrard’s suspension the flanks look so bare that Old Mother Hubbard would probably consider her cupboard to be fully stocked by comparison. Ledley King has pulled out of the Squad, more for protection than anything else which is fair enough as Rio Ferdinand has seemingly recovered from his back spasm, no doubt induced by too much “Merking”.

Those two should not be the only absentees from Saturday. It is difficult to see how Michael Carrick will retain his place, his lacklustre performance should consign him to the bench. In his place, I would choose Phil Neville. Whilst he is not the most attractive of footballers – not a cheap jibe, more a reference to his ability to break the play down – he is effective and most “like for like” replacement for Owen Hargreaves. On the left, it is possible that Wayne Bridge may come in for Stewart Downing but McClaren will probably stick with the Middlesbrough man as it could be one change too far in the midfield, leaving Fat Frank as the soul survivor of Saturday. On the right, I would personally play Wright-Phillips if it were 4-4-2 as a formation. He is a genuine wide player and whilst he is of the same school as Downing to a certain extent – eyes down, charge for the byeline – that is the sort of service which Crouch should thrive on.

It has been an interesting few days for the media, having a typical Englishman in charge of the team. There has been plenty of talk from McClaren about “Character”, “Passion”, “Belief” and very little reported about “Technical Ability”, “Retaining Possession of the Ball”, “Not pumping aimless long balls up to Crouch”. Perchance he realises that it is the latter that is needed but the former that will be received. In contrast, England can expect to spend considerable periods chasing the shadows of the Croatians who make the ball do the work in preference to themselves. That said, England’s meetings with them have been frutiful, albeit two friendlies and a Euro 2004 match. The latter was a somewhat useful barometer but different in that it was a one-off that had to be won, suiting the English pace and ability to pressurise an opponent into mistakes. This time round, perhaps it is more of an imperative to avoid defeat than to win.

The hosts had a miserable World Cup, losing to Brazil and failing to beat Australia although it could be argued that the latter was a spiritual derby for the Antipodeans who mustered a passionate performance, at a level of intensity that will not be matched tonight. And of course, Graham Poll will not be there to perform his three card trick.

Their record in Qualifying is similar to that of England. A run of twenty odd matches at home without defeat is nothing to be sniffed at but it is worth noting that Italy are the only top-ranked nation they have played in that run, eleven years ago when an arguably far better Croatian side was held to a 1 – 1 draw. Since then numerous mid-level European teams, e.g. Belgium, Scotland, Poland, Denmark, have come and gone without tasting victory. I do mean any disrespect but these are teams that you expect to beat at home. And yes, the Macedonians have been there before and lost; 3 – 2 if you are interested. The point is whilst the run they are on is good, there is nothing within it to be frightened of.

My Prediction: England to sneak a one goal win, probably 1 – 0.

As a token PS: Congratulations to Theo Walcott whose brace in Germany helped England to a 3 – 0 aggregate win to gain the U-21’s qualification to their age groups European Championships. Perhaps someone at the FA will now review their decision to replace Peter Taylor’s part-time stewardship with a full-time role?

As Pete Townsend once wrote, “Meet The New Boss, The Same As The Old Boss”. Welcome to International Football, Mr McClaren. As his predecessors will testify, it does not take long for the honeymoon period to end and he has found out how fickle the press pack are. At least McClaren has advance warning, if any were needed having witnessed first-hand the vilification of Eriksson, of what will come when England lose their first match under his stewardship. And should they repeat the level of performance that was shown yesterday, that will probably happen on Wednesday. Indeed, anything other than a defeat may well earn him so badly needed “Brownie Points” in the media’s eyes.

It is hard to finger what was the worst aspect of England’s match yesterday. Was it the lack of cohesion? The incapability of mutli-millionaires to string two passes together? Maybe even that the supposedly inferior opposition were patently more capable technically when in possession of the ball? Perhaps even that lack of belief in the first hour? I’m not sure, you dear reader decide for yourself. Actually, I do know what is the worst aspect. It is the constant disappointment at another inglorious failure, which may explain why a draw feels like a defeat in terms of reaction. And that no-one from the England team enhanced their reputation, only Crouch and Neville maintained any semblance of their level of performance for their clubs. The former tried hard and had a couple of good attempts on goal whilst the latter defended well, supported the attack and lets face it, you did not really expect him to score although that is no excuse for hitting the bar from six yards. Technically that took some doing so perhaps we should be doffing our collective caps to him.

I am not going to jump on the Rooney-bashing wagon – the man has been out of touch since his three match ban and that is no-one’s fault but his own. The sooner that he regains his touch, the better. Not that I am expecting goals, merely for the creativity that upon which he has built his reputation to re-appear. Nor am I going to say that playing Carrick was wrong. But it was and I told you so.

Still, at least I’m not Irish. No, Mum, I know Gramps was but does that really count? In footballing terms, yes it does so it’s a case of “Oh, Bugger”.

Elsewhere in Group E, the results went England’s way. Croatia were expected to turn over Andorra. OK, 7 – 0 was a bit better than expected but if it had been less than 5 – 0, they would have taken a fair hammering from their own media. Israel managed to scrape a point in Russia despite the hosts dominating and taking the lead through a well taken individual goal. Apparently, Guus Hiddink is still awaiting his first win as Russian manager and let us not forget that this is the man whose ego was so rampant that he refused to be interviewed for the England job. It should be a case of “There but for the Grace of God” but somehow today it does not feel like it.

Luis Aragones is probably wishing that the RFEF had accepted his resignation after the 3 – 2 defeat in Belfast as Spain slumped to a 0 – 2 defeat in Sweden. He probably cannot work out how the hell they lost. Here’s the answer. Ex – Gooner Rami Shabaan was in excellent form and Sweden stung the Spaniards twice on the counter. Seriously, Spain should have had five but as is the norm with them, plenty of the ball but jack in front of goal. Bad news on the Arsenal front as Freddie limped off in the second half, news is awaited as to the extent of the injury. Northern Ireland commendably held Denmark to a goalless draw, another good result although the Irish defeat at home to Iceland continues to look an exceptionally bad result given the 0 – 4 drubbing they received in Latvia.

Did I mention my wife is Spanish? You can guess the weekend we’ve had in the household. If we had a cat, it would probably have packed its bags and left rather than face the kicking it would otherwise have got as a result of the football.

Group A is turning into a rare old bunfight. Serbia beat Belgium 1 – 0 thanks to a Nikola Zigic goal – you may recall he was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal before the club started to throw cash about – whilst Portugal beat Azerbijan 3 – 0 to record their first win in the Qualifiers. Poland emulated them with a 1 – 0 win in Kazakhstan which should have Sacha Baron-Cohen searching for some new material but sets up the meeting between the two rather nicely on Wednesday given that the Serbs host Armenia and should pocket another three points on the same night. But it is a rare old scrap at the moment with five teams separated by three points.

Norways stranglehold on Group C ended with a 0 – 1 defeat in Athens, giving the defending champions maximum points from two games. Please God let both of them fail to qualify as functional football is killing the game at International Level. Turkey are the only other team on maximum points following a solid 1 – 0 win in Hungary, despite which the Not-So-Mighty Magyars still have a chance of making the finals, albeit very slim although they should garner three points from their visit to Valletta on Wednesday.

Group G provided some good news for Arsenal supporters when Robin van Persie scored for the Dutch with a header that bounced into the roof of the net in Sofia. Romania head the Group on Goals Scored following a 3 – 1 win over Belarus in Bucharest. Which leaves two Groups to go.

First up, Group D. The Croats probably thought, “Great, biggest win of the day”. Not so, the Czech Republic matched their 7 – 0 win against San Marino. I have not seen the goals so do not know if Tomas Rosicky contributed. Slovakia probably thought, “Ha! Great away win. Got to be the result of the day” following their 5 – 1 thrashing of Wales in Cardiff. Not so. Not even the Cypriots who recorded a 5 – 2 win over the Republic – land of my Grandfather – can really claim the result of the day although it is probably the best of their international career, even allowing for the recent fall in the Irish stock in recent years.

Nope, the result of the day goes to Scotland because lets face it, none of us outside of that country thought that they would win against France, many thought they would be lucky to get a point. And as a mark of respect for that, I am not going to comment on the woeful French performance as that would denigrate the Scots. No seriously, I’m not as they deserve to bask in some glory for once. I’ve just remembered that my maternal Grandmother was from South Shields. See we can’t even get that right as a family – still just about south of the Border which just about tops off a wonderful football weekend.

I think I need to watch some decent football as an antidote to this weekend’s internationals so Real v Eintracht beckons – night all.

As it is International Week, a dearth of Arsenal news in the press. What little has emerged has been surprising and unconfirmed. The major news is that the club are believed to have reached an agreement for first option of Franck Ribery for £17.5m when the French club decide to cash in on the winger. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about this potential signing. On the plus side, the general consensus seems to be that he is a decent player and in all fairness, he would suit The Emirates Stadium giving the team plenty of width, something that they have been crying out for this season. The option will probably become exercisable next summer which would be ideal as it would head off the usual “When are we going to sign a big name player” that has dogged the club over the past four or so years. It is almost an “un-Wenger” like signing as prior to this summer, there have been few finished articles arriving at the club – Gilberto and Lehmann are perhaps the only ones he had signed prior to the arrival of Rosicky and Gallas. However, as per normal, nothing confirmed by the club at the time of writing. Lehmann has this week confirmed that he wants to sign a one-year extension to his current contract which would seem to fit in with Wenger’s plans who recently commented that he hoped to start talks around Christmas time. Lets hope they do as Lehmann despite his idiosyncracies has been an excellent guardian of the Arsenal goal, solving the problem of how to replace Seaman nicely and allowing the manager to redevelop the outfield players first. Looking for a replacement will take time although Arsenal have always been strongly linked with Gregory Coupet in the past but the latest squeeze seems to be Oscar Ustari, the Argentinean U-21 international, or more unlikely is Gianluigi Buffon. Barcelona are reportedly interested in both and like Arsenal will probably end up with neither. Another youngster reportedly interesting the club, or has signed for Arsenal depending on which rag you read is Sporting Lisbon’s Rui Fonte and I’ll stop right there on this one as I know absolutely Jack about him other than he is supposed to be a forward.

Meanwhile, the Ashley Cole affair is rearing its head again. William Gallas is threatening to give a no-holds barred TV interview to explain his side of the story, presumably making a mockery of the ludicrous claims Chelsea made prior to his departure, and how his relationship with the Setubal Suedehead broke down. If that is how Big Billy decides to exact his revenge then so be it, hopefully though it will draw a line under the whole affair from the playing point of view. Talking of TV Interviews, Le Boss has told a French crew that he will reveal what the club found so offensive about the whole affair at a later date. Presumably something else went on other than the tapping up of a player three days before they played Manchester United. I am guessing that something like this will come out when his self-penned life story is published. If there is one manager currently in English football who should write a book, it is Wenger. I would welcome two books to be honest, one covering his life and the events at the club and another explaining his footballing beliefs and theories. You can count on the fingers of both hands those managers whose careers genuinely warrant a life story and the digits on one hand for those who have had as much impact on English football as he has.